Bill of Entry article and permission to publish here provided by Prajakta Pingulkar.
Do you know what is a Bill of Entry?
A Bill of Entry, also known as BOE, is a statutory document registered by the custom clearance agents or merchants (such as importers) during or before the arrival of imported shipments.
As a part of the customs clearance procedure, it is then tendered to the Customs department. The importer is allowed to assert a claim of ITC on the shipments to complete the customs clearance process. The BOE (Bill of Entry) can be issued for bond clearance or home consumption. Do note that when you apply for BOE during bond clearance, then the bond number and the date of issuance must be included.
Today’s article exclusively talks about what is Bill of Entry and everything that you need to know.
Who Should Use a BOE (Bill of Entry)?
It’s crucial to understand what is bill of entry, especially if you are in the shipping industry. So, to surmise this, you also need clarity on who should apply for the bill of entry. Given below is a list of people who should apply for it.
- If you are an exporter
- If you are an importer
- If you own firms(s) that acquire goods from Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and sell them within India
- If you own firm(s) that import products from other countries
The Procedure for BOE (Bill of Entry)
Once you file for the bill of entry, a commissioned Customs magistrate shall inspect your goods. After this, the importer of these goods is supposed to pay for the necessary customs duty, GST, and IGST compensation in order to clear the goods. The importer can then assert a claim on ITC for the IGST and payment, however not for the standard customs duty.
The Format of a BOE (Bill of Entry)
In accordance with the rules and regulations delegated by the Government of India, here is how a sample BOE ( bill of entry) shall seem like in the GST administration:
- The Customs’ house agent code, the importer’s name, residential address, and IEC (Import Export Code), and importer’s name and address. Also, this address will be auto-populated in case the importer is an already registered taxpayer
- The license number and the port code
Fact: Most of the taxpayers will enter their GSTIN or the provisional GSTIN in the Import Export Code (IEC) field. In case the taxpayers don’t have an interim or a regularisation, then they can make use of their PAN or even UIN (Unique Identification Number). With respect to this, the merchant will be provided with an ITC for the IGST along with the compensation cess which was spent on clearing the goods. Nonetheless, do note that ITC cannot be asserted on the primary customs duty, which is compensated for the products.
- The container’s name, the destination shipment port, the country of origin and the country code, country of shipment along with its code- in case the code differs from the country of origin. It also includes the date on which the bill of lading was declared
- Information concerning the shipped goods and their value
- Details regarding the commodities and their assessment:
Packages and quantity:
- The classification of the goods, the serial number, and unit code of the goods
- Amount of packages and their volume or weight
- Description of the goods and do note that the information must be provided individually for each of the class
- Customs tariff heading which includes the exclusion information along with the year
Type of the duty code:
- The assessed value of the goods along with the supplementary charges like the handling charges and the landing charges can be specified here
- The basic rate and the standard amount of customs duty is levied
Additional duty
- GST code, IGST, IGST rate and amount
- CET (Central Excise Tariff) regarding the exemption notification and year
- SAD (Special Additional Duty) for Customs
- Value, rate and the total additional duty
Compensation cess amount
- Exemption information in order to exact exclusion from GST compensation cess
- Exemption information in order to exact exclusion from IGST
- The total amount of duty- assessable value along with customs duty and any extra costs- in words, and the total quantity of units in words
Two declaration and signature sections:
- One for the agent of the Customs house
- One for the importer
In a nutshell: In the Import Export Code (IEC) department, the taxpayer is required to register their GSTIN or provisional GSTIN. If the taxpayer does not have any regular or provisional GSTIN, then that individual can apply their PAN. The GST refund shall be initiated in accordance with this.
